Bullpen Report: Jul 30, 2013

• “I wish they all could be California girls beards.” The Beard returns, this time to LA as Brian Wilson signed with the Dodgers today. The deal is worth $1 million with incentives. Wilson will start in the minors but should be in LA by mid-August, at which point he should be used as a righty in late innings, setting the table for Kenley Jansen. I’m not sure what to expect from Wilson but the Dodgers weren’t the only interested team, so he certainly showed something enticing during his throwing sessions. We’ll have to see how Wilson looks like before making any conclusions but Wilson certainly has a good chance of pitching in big spots in LA and should be monitored by those in hold leagues. And if it doesn’t work out, I guess Wilson just wasn’t meant for these times.

• Colin had mentioned John Axford’s recent struggles the other day and those continued today as Axford gave up two runs and four hits, relieving Yovani Gallardo in the fifth inning. The Brewers came back against the Cubs for the lead and Jim Henderson recorded the save, his 13th of the year. With Henderson seeing the ninth and Axford seeing the fifth, I’m going to say Henderson’s hold on the ninth is pretty secure. As a wise man once said, it’s not that easy being green, but let’s see what Henderson has to say about that on the closer grid.

• It’s not a major move but the Indians have acquired Marc Rzepczynski from the Cardinals. Scrabble’s ERA (7.84) in the majors this year is a little rough on the eyes but also a little misleading as he he’s pitched to a 3.96 xFIP in just 10.1 innings. As Jeff Sullivan pointed out earlier, Rzepczynski can’t get righties out and has started to do worse against lefties as well. That’s why he was in the minors for the Cardinals and why he was acquired on the cheap, but it’s low risk move that could pay off against a tough lefty for the Indians stretch run. This move shouldn’t affect many fantasy teams but if it does, I’m curious to hear about your league in the comments section.

• Steve Cishek blew his third save of the year (for his sixth loss), against the Mets tonight on his second inning of work. Steve Cishek has been pitching well of late and on the season supports a solid 3.36 xFIP. Numbers like that would make Cishek attractive to a competing team, especially against righties but the latest is still thatMarlins are happy to hold to him as he still years of team control. So, unless something suddenly changes, expect Cishek to continue to blow his saves while on the Marlins this season.

•  Chris Perez (15), Bobby Parnell (22) and Jim Johnson (36) all recorded saves tonight. Kevin Gregg blew the save in the second game of a double header against the Brewers, killing his trade value in the process. The Cubs may take any warm body for Gregg at this point but in his last 18 appearances Gregg has allowed 13 runs which is more Gregg than his first mirage. If Gregg isn’t moved it will be the best case scenario for his fantasy value as he’d get more saves on Chicago than anywhere else.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Jordan Walden	Scott Downs
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Francisco Rodriguez	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Craig Breslow	Andrew Bailey
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Pedro Strop	Blake Parker
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Nate Jones	Matt Lindstrom
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Sam LeCure	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
Colorado	Rex Brothers	Matt Belisle	Mitchell Boggs	Rafael Betancourt
Detroit	Joaquin Benoit	Jose Veras	Drew Smyly
Houston	Jose Cisnero	Wesley Wright	Josh Zeid
KC	Greg Holland	Aaron Crow	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Kevin Jepsen	Dane de la Rosa	Ryan Madson
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Ronald Belisario	Paco Rodriguez	Brian Wilson
Miami	Steve Cishek	Mike Dunn	Chad Qualls
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	John Axford	Michael Gonzalez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	LaTroy Hawkins	David Aardsma	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Joba Chamberlain
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Justin De Fratus	Mike Adams
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Justin Wilson	Tony Watson	Jason Grilli
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	Fernando Salas	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Oliver Perez	Yoervis Medina	Carter Capps
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee	Jesse Crain
Texas	Joe Nathan	Tanner Scheppers	Jason Frasor
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Brett Cecil	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Tyler Clippard	Craig Stammen	Drew Storen

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]